It was a glorious August morning: a cloudless sapphire sky, the sun so bright that you knew SPF 50 wasn't enough — and acres of fresh snow.

The afternoon before, I had stepped through the doors of the Hotel Portillo, trading Chicago's summer of smog and sweat for a week of wine, food and skiing in the Andes.

As the ski season melts to a close in the Northern Hemisphere, die-hard skiers dream of keeping the season alive. They have two options: glacier skiing or heading for mountains south of the equator.

Portillo's slopes have hosted most of the legends of the sport — Stein Eriksen, Toni Sailer, Jean-Claude Killy — and it remains a prime training spot for numerous national ski teams because its steep slopes allow the racers to get on-mountain training long before the Alps or the Rockies are covered in snow.

The Austrians were training the week I visited, and the U.S. women's team arrived the day after I left.

And as eager as I was to tackle Portillo's fabled slopes, the rugged grandeur of the resort commanded my attention first, as it does every visitor's.

The resort sits on the Lake of the Incas, surrounded by craggy, 15,000-foot peaks that seem to guard it from the rest of the world. Steep chutes filled with snow are etched into the red-black faces of the mountains.

The first-time visitor can be excused for thinking: "Am I supposed to ski that?" The answer is no. Those chutes are for experts and can be reached only by hiking. Lots of wide-open terrain awaits the intermediate skier on the lower half of the mountain.

That doesn't mean Portillo is an easy mountain; it isn't. Being above the tree line means the slopes all are wide open and susceptible to the effects of wind and sun. August was springlike, and that meant the conditions varied widely during the day. Think Aspen in early April.

Before 10 a.m., the slopes tended to be icy. The Austrian ski racers loved it, but I found conditions much more to my liking in the late morning. And by 2:30, the afternoon sun had turned the base area into slush.

Several of the intermediate trails have steeper pitches that could challenge a less-confident skier, especially in the morning before they softened under the sun. But runs such as Descenso, Los Zorros and Juncalillo will delight even the most dedicated cruising skier.

Much of the advanced terrain consists of various steep bowls and chutes that encircle the rest of the resort like a crown. A visitor can see that getting down from the top of the Roca Jack lift, for instance, will provide all the adrenaline rush he needs. Lake Run, another advanced slope, provides one of the great views in all of skiing, but it also requires a testing traverse to get back to the lifts.

To maximize enjoyment, visitors to Portillo need to cast aside any preconceived notion of a typical ski vacation and immerse themselves in the ambience and history of the Hotel Portillo and its staff.

The hotel was built in 1949, and owner Henry Purcell took over in 1961.

Purcell is proud that he has been able to maintain the design and feel of the hotel pretty much as when it opened.

"We have families who first came here as children 30 years ago," he told me over afternoon tea. "Now they bring their children, and they say the hotel hasn't changed.

"Our staff loves what they do, so they stay too. Guests and staff become friends who see each other every year."

With a staff of about 500 to serve a maximum of 450 guests, fabulous service is the norm. Three meals a day plus afternoon tea are part of the Portillo package, so by the end of the week all the guests and their waiters are on a first-name basis.

Purcell acknowledged that it sometimes is difficult to make required changes without disturbing the ambience that he and his guests treasure. For example, the rooms have wireless Internet access (albeit sometimes sketchy), but there are no televisions in the rooms.

"We don't want television in the rooms," Purcell said. "We want our guests to join in all the activities together. We have movie nights for families and for adults. But if we had TV, guests would not mingle as much.

"We added Internet access only because the demand to stay in touch with business became too great."

The resort plans some special screenings of vintage movies to celebrate its 65th anniversary. And in July, some of the movie nights will be replaced with nights of watching the World Cup soccer matches from Brazil.

The resort also has added special food and wine packages during August. This season, the first, titled "Wine Week," is Aug. 2-8; the second, "Wine Fest," is Aug. 23-29.

Last season's Wine Fest was a superb chance to sample some of the outstanding Chilean wines that never reach U.S. shores. The wines of Casa Silva and Cousino-Macul were especially eye-opening for their depth of flavor.

I met Greg and Susan Blomgren, of Vancouver, Wash., while we were soaking our tired muscles in the hot tub. Dedicated skiers, they had been visiting Peru and decided to get a jump on the ski season before heading home.

Getting there: There are no nonstop flights from Chicago to Santiago, Chile, and the flight time is 12 to 14 hours, depending on the length of stopover between flights. Then there is a two-hour shuttle ride to the resort, a bit more if the weather is bad. The final stretch of highway involves 29 extreme hairpin turns where closed eyes are advisable. Visitors from the U.S. must pay a $160 entry tax.

Staying there: There are several lodging options at the resort, ranging from free-standing chalets that sleep six, to luxury suites and basic rooms with two single beds in the main lodge, to dormlike accommodations in the Inca Lodge.

Dining there: No matter which lodging option is chosen, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner (two seatings) are included. Lunch and dinner both offer the option of meat, fish or vegetarian entree. Guests who buy an entire week at the lodge also get a voucher to eat lunch one day at Tio Bob's, the on-slope restaurant that serves casual food with spectacular views.

Rates: Lodge rates range from $2,100 per person double occupancy for a basic room in low season to $6,200 per person for a suite in high season. Check skiportillo.com for the full range of lodging options. Prices include room, meals, lift tickets and airport transfers. The site also has special offers.

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